Fórsa seeking deal for caretakers
by Mark Corcoran
 
Fórsa Assistant General Secretary, Shane Lambert has thanked caretakers for their patience and issued a ‘call to action’ for all its members.
Fórsa Assistant General Secretary, Shane Lambert has thanked caretakers for their patience and issued a ‘call to action’ for all its members.

Fórsa is looking to open formal discussions with the Department of Education and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on an agreement in respect of salaries and various leave entitlements for grant paid caretakers.

 

The agreement will be set upon the same path as that won by Fórsa for school secretaries, which secured access to public service pay scales and a minimum standard of terms and conditions for grant paid secretaries.

 

This agreement will be delivered in three phases, with the first enacted as of the 30th of September. This saw the workers’ pay-scale become aligned with the clerical officer scale in education. As a result, the union can now turn its attention to commencing the same process for caretakers.

 

Whilst there is an agreement in principle and a clear framework to follow to achieve this goal, there are items that will require further discussions with the Department such as defining the correct pay scale to be use. There are also items for consideration that would not have featured in secretaries’ discussions, such as on-call, or call-out.

 

An inaugural annual general meeting (AGM) of caretakers will take place on the 12th of November with a view to progressing discussions. This will see a formal branch committee elected who will be heavily involved in these negotiations. Fórsa will be updating members with information on the AGM.

 

Fórsa official Shane Lambert thanked caretakers for their patience and issued a ‘call to action’ for all its members.

 

“For too long school caretakers have been undervalued, underpaid and under-protected.  We have seen what can be achieved when we act collectively and come together, organising in numbers to build strength. The secretaries’ branch has continued to go from strength to strength in the months since the proposals were balloted upon and further enhancements have been achieved to the proposals, which see sick leave and working patterns protected as a result,” he said.

 

Shane urged all caretakers to “get active, get engaged and get involved”.

 

“Whilst we appreciate that there is a degree of urgency given the pressures that all workers are facing on foot of the cost-of-living crises, we need to ensure that we take all the necessary steps and do things the right way to achieve the best outcome for all caretaking members going forward,” he said.

 

“We are calling on all caretakers to get active, get engaged and get involved with your new branch when it is formed, advise other caretaking colleagues and friends to do likewise and if you know of some who have not yet joined the union, tell them to do so urgently.”

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

LikeLike (0) | Facebook Twitter